Snap, Crackle, Pop

The Snap was Friday night when the Yankees could snap out of their doldrums in losing the to the Mets 3-2. The Crackle was the sound of Darrell Rasner's finger breaking on Saturday. His finger and the Yankees hopes of winning were immediately fractured. The Pop was Sunday night as the offense returned with 3 home runs in a much needed 6-2 victory.

I was driving home Saturday from the LPGA Sybase Classic, when I turned on the car radio to listen to the game. Having had enough of John Sterling's theatrics and his, along with Mrs. Yankee Suzyn Waldman, spinning every bad move into something positive, I turned on WFAN's coverage of the game. Howie Rose was doing the play-by-play. Good guy, good broadcaster. Miss him doing NY Rangers games.

Anyway, 2 batters into the bottom of the 1st, Rasner joined Jeff Karstens in the Jaret Wright "my body is a human target" club when Endy Chavez ricochet a ball of Rasner' pitching hand. 3 warm up pitches in front of Gene Monahan and Joe Torre went okay. Then Rasner tried to throw a split-finger fastball and went running from the mound in excruciating pain.

Mike Myers and Luiz Vizcaino were the first two to replace Rasner, and as usual, it was like throwing buckets of grease on the Towering Inferno. A couple of David Wright homers later and the Yankees were down 8-2. The offense woke up a bit late in the game, but Billy Wagner struck out both Robinson Cano and Josh Phelps with 2 on in the 9th as they each represented the tying run.

Having lost the first 2 games of the series and sending a rookie pitcher, Tyler Clippard, to the mound, the Yankees couldn't have felt too good about things. But thankfully, Clippard hasn't been around the team, so he went out to the mound full of energy and confidence. 6 innings later, he left the mound with a 6-1 lead, having impressed his manager, teammates, and the Yankees fans. He did it not only with his arm, but with his bat as well.

Trailing 1-0 to another Wright HR, the Yankees had 1st and 2nd with one out in the 4th. Up came Clippard who laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position. Johnny Damon followed with a bloop double in front of a diving Shawn Green in right to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead. Derek Jeter followed with a 2-run HR to left to give the Bombers a 4-1 lead. The HR extended Jeter's hit streak to 15 games, and he has now had a hit in 35 of his last 36 games.

In the 5th, Jorge Posada extended his hitting streak to 15 games as well with a long solo HR into the right field seats. In the 6th Clippard shocked everyone again with a double in the gap in right-center. Though he was stranded, he energized the Yankees dugout.

Clippard threw 95 pitches in his 6 innings of work, allowing just 3 hits, while walking 3 and striking out 6. He made an immediate impression by striking out lead off man Jose Reyes with 3 straight pitches to start the Mets half of the 1st. The final strike was a wickedly breaking curve ball that bounced in the dirt as Reyes swung and missed.

The only real trouble the Yankee Clippard got into was in the 2nd. After allowing Wright's HR, he faced a bases loaded situation after walking pitcher John Maine with 2 out. But he retired Reyes again, this time on a fly to Hideki Matsui in left.

Scott Proctor pitches a pair of scoreless innings before turning things over to Mariano Rivera, who hadn't worked since Wednesday. Mo couldn't get out of the game unscathed, allowing a solor HR to Damion Easley, but looked pretty good overall.

The Yankee Clippard made all of the Yankees feel pretty good overall.

~~~

A-Rod homered both Saturday and Sunday, giving him a major league leading 17. Hopefully he's starting to get his stroke back.

Bobby Abreu had some positive signs last night with 2 hits and 2 walks.

Robinson Cano bounced back from Saturday's miserable 3 error game, with a smooth game at 2nd.

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